1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods and apparatus for releasing energy from hydrogen atoms (molecules) as their electrons are stimulated to relax to lower energy levels and smaller radii (smaller semimajor and semiminor axes) than the "ground state" by providing a transition catalyst which acts as an energy sink or means to remove energy resonant with the electronic energy released to stimulate these transitions according to a novel atomic model. The transition catalyst should not be consumed in the reaction. It accepts energy from hydrogen and releases the energy to the surroundings. Thus, the transition catalyst returns to the origin state. Processes that require collisions are common. For example, the exothermic chemical reaction of H+H to form H.sub.2 requires a collision with a third body, M, to remove the bond energy-H+H+M.fwdarw.H.sub.2 +M. The third body distributes the energy from the exothermic reaction, and the end result is the H.sub.2 molecule and an increase in the temperature of the system. Similarly, the transition from the n=1 state of hydrogen to the ##EQU1## states of hydrogen is possible via a resonant collision, say n=1 to n=1/2. In these cases, during the collision the electron(s) couples to another electron transition or electron transfer reaction, for example, which can absorb the exact amount of energy that must be removed from the hydrogen atom (molecule), a resonant energy sink. The end result is a lower-energy state for the hydrogen and increase in temperature of the system. Each of such reactions is hereafter referred to as a shrinkage reaction: each transition is hereafter referred to as a shrinkage transition; each energy sink or means to remove energy resonant with the hydrogen electronic energy released to effect each transition is hereafter referred to as an energy hole, and the electronic energy removed by the energy hole to effect or stimulate the shrinkage transition is hereafter referred to as the resonance shrinkage energy. An energy hole comprising a reactant ion that is spontaneously regenerated following an endothermic electron ionization reaction of energy equal to the resonance shrinkage energy is hereafter referred to as an electrocatalytic ion. An energy hole comprising two reactants that are spontaneously regenerated following the an endothermic electron transfer reaction between the two species wherein the differences in their ionization energies is equal to the resonance shrinkage energy is hereafter referred to as an electrocatalytic couple.
The present invention of an electrolytic cell energy reactor, pressurized gas energy reactor, and a gas discharge energy reactor, comprises: a source of hydrogen; one of a solid, molten, liquid, and gaseous source of energy holes; a vessel containing hydrogen and the source of energy holes wherein the shrinkage reaction occurs by contact of the hydrogen with the source of energy holes; and a means for removing, the (molecular) lower-energy hydrogen so as to prevent an exothermic shrinkage reaction from coming to equilibrium. The present invention further comprises methods and structures for repeating this shrinkage reaction to produce shrunken atoms (molecules) to provide new materials with novel properties such as high thermal stability.
2. Description of the Related Art
Existing atomic models and theories are unable to explain certain observed physical phenomena. The Schrodinger wavefunctions of the hydrogen atom, for example, do not explain the extreme ultraviolet emission spectrum of the interstellar medium or that of the Sun, as well as the phenomenon of anomalous heat release from hydrogen in certain electrolytic cells having a potassium carbonate electrolyte or certain gas energy cells having a hydrogen spillover catalyst comprising potassium nitrate with the production of lower-energy hydrogen atoms and molecules, which is part of the present invention. Thus, advances in energy production and materials have been largely limited to laboratory discoveries having limited or sub-optimal commercial application.